The Support at Home program provides Government funded home care services to help older people live independently at home. People must complete an assessment and be approved for the Support at Home program before funding is provided for home care services.

Home care services can also be privately funded by the recipient without any Government assistance. Home care services which are privately funded can be received at the same time as services provided by the Support at Home program.

In this month’s article, we will look at the home care services and funding provided by the Support at Home program. We will also look at differences with home care services which are privately funded and when they should be considered.

Home care services provided by the Support at Home program

The Support at Home program has a defined service list which outlines the home care services provided by the program. The service list has three participant contribution categories including clinical support, independence and everyday living.

The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing publishes the Support at Home service list Support at Home service list | Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.

Privately funded home care generally provides more services than the Support at Home program which is limited by the service list. Privately funded home care services are determined by the provider whereas the Support at Home service list is determined by the Government.

Privately funded home care can be considered when the home care services required are not included in the Support at Home service list.

Support at Home providers set their own prices for home care services which must be published on their website and the My Aged Care website. The provider must also document the prices for home care services they will provide in the service agreement with the recipient.

The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing publishes national median prices for home care services provided by the Support at Home program National summary of Support at Home prices – November to December 2025 | Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.

The following table outlines the most common home care services provided by the Support at Home program and the national median price:

Privately funded providers also set their own prices for home care services which are similar to the prices for Support at Home services however, Support at Home recipients only pay the participant contribution for independence and everyday living services and nothing for clinical support services.

Participant contribution for Support at Home recipients

The participant contribution is a percentage of the price for home care services provided to the Support at Home recipient. The participant contribution is determined by the category of the service and the pensioner status and means of the recipient. Recipients who choose not to disclose their means will be subject to the maximum participant contribution for the category of the service.

² National summary of Support at Home prices - November to December 2025.

³ CareAbout Provider Directory as at 28 July 2026 https://directory.careabout.com.au/

⁴ Centrelink thresholds as at 1 July 2026

The participant contribution has an indexed lifetime limit of $137,917 after which there will be no further contributions. Services Australia will notify the Support at Home provider and recipient when the lifetime limit has been reached.

Support at Home recipients who are part-pensioners or Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (CSHC) holders will be means tested for independence and everyday living services. Assessable income and assets for means testing will be the same as that assessed for Centrelink.

The following graphs demonstrate the increase in the participant contribution for independence and everyday living services as financial assets increase for part-pensioners and CSHC holders:⁴

Funding provided by the Support at Home program

The Support at Home program has eight ongoing service classifications which provide funding for home care services. The service classification depends on the level of home care required which is determined as part of the assessment for the Support at Home program.

There are wait times before funding is available for home care services after approval for the Support at Home program. The wait times depend on the priority category which is determined as part of the assessment for the Support at Home program.

Funding is paid quarterly into a home support account managed by Services Australia which the Support at Home provider claims from after home care services are provided. 10% of the funding for each Support at Home recipient is deducted quarterly for care management services. Any unspent funding is carried over to the next quarter capped at the higher of $1,000 or 10% of the funding.

Privately funded home care services can be accessed immediately whereas the Support at Home program has wait times before funding is available. Privately funded home care services can also be accessed as required whereas Support at Home services are limited to when funding is provided.

Privately funded home care services can be considered while waiting for funding to be available after approval for the Support at Home program. Privately funded home care services can also be considered after funding from the Support at Home program has been exhausted.

Case study

Brett is single, 80 years old, homeowner and has been approved for Support at Home ongoing service classification 6. He has $400,000 invested in term deposits and $10,000 of personal assets. He also has $650 per week of personal expenses.

Support at Home ongoing service classification 6 provides funding of $12,341 per quarter⁷ of which 10% will be deducted for care management services. Brett requires 2 hours of domestic assistance per week, 5 hours of personal care per week and 1 hour of registered nursing per week.

Brett will have a funding shortfall of $6,272 per annum for the home care services he requires from the Support at Home program. He will have a participant contribution of 10.68% for independence services and 25.38% for everyday living services and will not pay for clinical support services⁷.

Brett should consider privately funding the shortfall on domestic assistance because everyday living services have the highest participant contribution.

What will be Brett’s cash flow if all the personal care and registered nursing is funded by the Support at Home program and part of the domestic assistance is privately funded? Assume personal care services have moved to the clinical support category and has no participant contribution.

What will be Brett’s cash flow if all the personal care, registered nursing and domestic assistance is privately funded?

Brett’s cash flow is worse because the participant contribution for home care services is significantly lower than the price for the same privately funded services. 

Client scenarios and home care services prices may differ and an analysis should be
undertaken to determine how to spend funding.

The information in this article is current as at 1 August 2026 unless otherwise specified and is provided by Challenger Life Company Limited ABN 44 072 486 938, AFSL 234670 (Challenger, our, we), the issuer of the Challenger annuities (Annuity(ies)), the issuer of CarePlus Annuity and CarePlus Insurance, together referred to as Challenger CarePlus and Challenger Retirement and Investment Services Limited ABN 80 115 534 453, AFSL 295642 (CRISL). The information in this article is general information and is intended solely for licensed financial advisers or authorised representatives of licensed financial advisers, and is provided to them on a confidential basis. It is not intended to constitute financial product advice. This information must not be distributed, delivered, disclosed or otherwise disseminated to any investor, without our express prior approval. Investors should consider the applicable Annuity Target Market Determination (TMD) and Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) available at challenger.com.au and the appropriateness of the applicable product to their circumstances before making an investment decision. This information has been prepared without taking into account any person’s objectives, financial situation or needs. Neither Challenger and/or CRISL, nor any of its officers or employees, are a registered tax agent or a registered tax (financial) adviser under the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 (Cth) and none of them is licensed or authorised to provide tax or social security advice. Before acting, we strongly recommend that prospective investors obtain financial product advice, as well as taxation and applicable social security advice, from qualified professional advisers who are able to take into account the investor’s individual circumstances. Each person should, therefore, consider its appropriateness having regard to these matters and the information in the TMD and PDS for the applicable Annuity before deciding whether to acquire or continue to hold the product. A copy of the TMD and PDS is available at challenger.com.au or by contacting our Adviser Services Team on 13 35 66. Any examples shown in this article are for illustrative purposes only and are not a prediction or guarantee of any particular outcome. Age Pension benefits described in this article will not apply to all individuals. Age Pension outcomes depend on an individual (or couple’s) personal circumstances and may change over time. This article may include statements of opinion, forward looking statements, forecasts or predictions based on current expectations about future events and results. Actual results may be materially different from those shown. This is because outcomes reflect the assumptions made and may be affected by known or unknown risks and uncertainties that are not able to be presently identified. Challenger and CRISL relied on publicly available information and sources believed to be reliable, however, the information has not been independently verified by Challenger and CRISL. While due care and attention has been exercised in the preparation of this information, Challenger and CRISL gives no representation or warranty (express or implied) as to its accuracy, completeness or reliability. The information presented in this article is not intended to be a complete statement or summary of the matters to which reference is made in this article. To the maximum extent permissible under law, neither Challenger, CRISL, nor its related entities, nor any of their directors, employees or agents, accept any liability for any loss or damage in connection with the use of or reliance on all or part of, or any omission inadequacy or inaccuracy in, the information in this article.

Related content